Government green lights nuisance driving

“LTNs are a relatively new development, and we continuously work with our members to ensure best practice in any traffic or parking management schemes. However, whilst we accept that the need for enhanced guidance for new traffic schemes should always be explored, the current rhetoric and implied punishments for Councils is proving to be extremely damaging and misleading.

Restricting or curtailing local authority access to DVLA keeper records could potentially also significantly restrict them in enforcing wider traffic and parking schemes.  This would be a disaster for local road users & residents.  Also, as any surplus income from traffic enforcement is strictly ring fenced for the benefit of local community road and travel schemes, such as concessionary bus fares, it would undoubtedly have much wider, unforeseen, negative impacts.

At a time when Councils have little to no money spare to invest in anything other than essential local schemes, this kind of action would truly be the worst outcome for local areas, something we are not seeing highlighted much in media reports.  We are calling on Government to reconsider many of the measures proposed in the Plan for Drivers, which would not actually be good for drivers, who will find themselves on roads that are more congested and with less places, if any, available to park.

The Government needs to start assessing what they want our roads and neighbourhoods to look like. At the moment their actions could lead to no enforcement at all, allowing our streets and communities to descend into chaos.  If anyone is curious as to how motorists behave when there is a lack of enforcement, we would suggest they look back at news reports from Aberystwyth in 2011”

The UK Government also last week decided to delay, indefinitely, granting more Local Authorities local powers which would enable them to mitigate problematic driving behaviour.  These powers have been successfully implemented in several areas in England since 2022 and evidence shows they are having a positive impact; keeping children safe from inconsiderate and dangerous driving and parking outside of schools, keeping pedestrian areas free of cars and preventing careless driving the wrong way down one-way streets and ignoring no entry signs. 

Local community engagement and feedback in these areas demonstrates that most local residents are supportive and appreciative of better management of their streets, which is protecting them from inconsiderate and dangerous drivers.

Regulations, that were scheduled to be laid on the 11th of March, would have allowed a new tranche of 22 Local Authorities to enforce moving traffic contraventions at identified problem hot spots in their communities. However, the Government decided, to not put these regulations forward. At a time when Local Authority finances are stretched this creates new and unnecessary burdens.

We know from independent research that the public are very concerned about problem driving.  These additional powers enable Local Authorities to use modern technology to effectively deter such behaviour in places where it has been having the biggest negative impact within their communities. This development, along with other parts of their Plan for Drivers does not support the majority who drive with consideration and follow the rules of the road, nor do they appear to be recognising the significant problems caused by nuisance motorists. We are calling on Government to lay these regulations as soon as possible and to have a plan that truly supports the majority of compliant drivers, rather than effectively rewarding non-compliance.